Flush tank guide



1960 R. v. BERNIER 2,948,901

FLUSH TANK cum:

Filed March 25, 1958 2 Sheets-$heet 1 ROBERT V. BERNIER INVENTOR.

BYMKW HIS ATTORNEY Aug. 16, 1960 R. v. BERNIER 2,948,901

FLUSH TANK GUIDE Filed March 25, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ROBERT V BERNIER INVENTOR.

BYMAW HIS ATTORNEY United States FLUSH TANK GUIDE Robert V. Bernier, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to Globe Industries, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Ghio Filed Mar. 25, 1958, Ser. No. 723,733

7 Claims. (Cl. '4-57) This invention relates to improvements in flush tanks and is more particularly concerned with an improved valve guide.

One object of this invention is to provide an improved mounting for the valve operating mechanism of toilet bowl flush tanks wherein hanging up of the valve and valve stem is substantially eliminated and thus the waste of water is prevented. Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent from a reading of the description following hereinafter and from an examination of the drawings, in which:

Figure l is a side view of a portion of the flush valve and associated operating mechanism, showing one type of failure commonly encountered,

Figure 2 is a view similar to that of Figure 1, but showing still another type of failure of operation commonly encountered,

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the valve guide mechanism of the invention,

Figure 4 is a front view of a mounting stem of the valve guide mechanism,

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the valve stem guide,

Figure 6 is a top view of the lower clamp plate,

Figure 7 is a top view of the upper clamp plate of the mechanism of the invention,

Figure 8 is a view of a modification of the mounting stem of the invention, and

Figure 9 is a sectional view taken along line 9 of Figure 3, but showing the mounting stem of the embodiment of Figure 8.

In the conventional flush tank, the float valve is mounted at the end of a valve stem rod, which is in turn suspended from the end of the operating lever or swinging arm by a wire. During operation or lifting of this valve stem, the float is thrown to one side by the opening movement of the valve, and as the water recedes, the bulb is sometimes caught in the guiding elements therefor, so that at considerable annoyance it is necessary to either go back and jiggle the flushing lever to free the valve stem, or else lift the cover off the water closet, and manually release the valve stem.

Several different types of common failures of such units are illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. In Figure 1, a valve guide yoke 1 is mounted on an overflow tube 2. The overflow tube 2 forms part of an assembly which is mounted at 6 into the bottom of a water closet. This overflow tube assembly also is provided with a valve seat 4, and a main passageway 8 for admission of the water in the water closet to the toilet bowl. The ball valve 10 cooperates with the valve seat 4 to monitor the flow of fluid from the water closet into the toilet bowl. The ball or float valve 10 is mounted at the end of a valve stem 12, the upper end of which is bent over into an eyelet 14. This valve stem 12 is mounted from the operating lever or swinging arm 16 by a Wire connecting member 18 which is mounted at one end through an eyelet 20 or other means on the operating lever arm 16, and at the other end is formed into another eyelet 2,948,901? Patented Aug. 16, 1960 22 which partially surrounds and slides along the valve stem 12. In the condition of operation shown in Figure 1, the valve stem 12 has hung up within the two openings 24 and 26 of the yoke 1. This will occur many times in such units, since the openings 24 and 26 will wear and accumulate mineral deposits from the water in the flush tank, and thus build up protuberances, or make the surfaces of these openings irregular, so that suflicient friction will develop to bind the valve stem 12 when it is cantered upon operation of the operating lever 16.

Another familiar difliculty encountered in the operation of water closets is shown in Figure 2. In this device, a yoke 11 of a different configlration is mounted on the overflow tube 2, similar reference numerals being given to like parts as that shown in Figure 1. The yoke ii is provided with a single guide opening 23, and the valve stem 13 normally positions the ball 10 within the valve seat 4. Upon operation of the lever 19 and the lever arm 17, the connecting rod 25 (which is mounted in the eyelet 21 of lever arm 17), is raised so that the eyelet portion 29 of the connecting rod 25 is caused to contact the eyelet 27 of the valve stem 13, and lift the float off the valve seat 4. Many times the valve stem 13 and ball 10 will assume the position indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 2 (position designated generally by the reference numeral 15), so that the ball will hang up on the lip of the valve seat 4. Thus, when the water has flowed out of the water closet, and the float valve should be normally seated in the valve seat 4, it will remain hung up in the position 15 and water will continue to flow out of the water closet into the toilet bowl until such time as the unit is manually adjusted into proper position.

The valve guide mechanism of the invention is illustrated in connection with an existing valve guide yoke such as indicated in Figure 1, although it is to be understood that this valve guide mechanism can be mounted in connection with any of the existing valve guide yokes in place of the valve guide mechanism that is present. As shown in Figure 3, the connecting rod or wire, the valve stem, and the old ball valve have been removed from an existing unit, and the stem guide yoke 1 has been moved to a new position out of alignment with the axis of the valve seat 4. The mechanism of the invention is then mounted upon this old existing yoke 1, in such manner that a new valve guide is placed in alignment with the axis of the passage 8, as will become more readily apparent hereinafter.

The valve guide mechanism of the invention is indicated generally by the reference numeral 40 in Figure 3. It consists of a valve stem or lift rod 42, a lift disc 44, a valve stem guide tube 46, an upper clamping plate 48, a lower clamping plate 5%, and a mounting stem 58, all assembled as described hereinafter. The lower clamping plate 5th, is provided with two openings 54 and 56, as seen in Figure 6. The opening 54 is larger than the opening 56. Mounted within the opening 54 and suitably held therein is the guide tube 46. Forthi purpose the guide tube 46 (see Figure 5) is provided with a lower portion 47 of reduced diameter to fit within the opening 54 in the lower clamping plate 50. The lower portion 47 of the guide tube 46 is thereafter so formed so that it mechanically holds the tube 46 in perpendicular position to the late 59. The opening so in the clamping plate 50' receives the mounting stud 58 (see Figure 4). This stud 53 is provided with an upper threaded portion 60, a lower portion 62 which is to be mounted into the opening 56 in the plate 59, and an intermediate tapered flange 64 which serves as the centering and clamping block for the unit onto the existing valve guide yoke. As shown in Figure 4, this flange 64 comprises a cylindrical portion 65 anda tapered portion 67. This tapered portion 67 may be conical as shown in Figure 4 or may be provided with a Series of splines 69 (see Fig. 8) on its outer surface, in order to provide a series of teeth for biting into and securely locking the unit of the invention onto the existing guide yoke in a water closet. However, although these teeth 69 are desirable, the unit will function adequately for the purpose intended, if the simple tapered surface 67, as shown in Figure 4, is used. The mounting stud 58 is placed into the opening 56 in the lower plate 50 and the portion 62 is cold formed or headed similar to the tube 46, so that the lower plate 50 is then provided with two vertically upstanding members 58, which serves as a mounting stud; and 46, which serves as the new valve stem guide.

An upper clamping plate 70 is also provided (see Figure 7), which has a large opening 72 and a series of smaller openings 74, 74aand 74b. The large opening 72 is made to fit over the outer diameter of the guide tube 46 so that the plate 70 can slide therealong; while the openings 74, 74a, 74b are for the purpose of receiving the upper threaded portion 60 of the mounting stem 53. Instead of the openings 74, 74a and 74b, a single opening 74 can be used, although it is desirable to have the three openings indicated. The reason for the series of open ings 74 will become more readily apparent in connection with the further description following hereinafter.

The valve stem 42 is threaded at its upper end to receive a lift disc 44, which is held onto the stem 42 at its upper portion by a pair of nuts 45 (only one of which is shown in Fig. 3 in the drawings).

After removing the existing valve stem and linkage, and moving the guide yoke to one side the valve guide mechanism of the invention is mounted into the water closet in the following manner: a new flush ball 10 or the old flush ball 10 is first placed in the valve seat 4, and held in an approximate vertical position so that the valve stem 42 can be threaded thereinto. Next, the lift button 80 (which may be a washer or other similar standard element), is mounted upon a screw 82 and fastened into one of the existing openings in the lever arm 17 by a nut 84. It is desirable that a lift button such as 80 be used; however, this is not absolutely necessary, and the lever 17 may be used as the operating element in connection with the new valve guide mechanism if so desired. The lower clamping plate 50, bearing the guide tube 46 and mounting stud 58 is next placed so that the mounting stud passes thnough the existing yoke 1 and the valve stem guide tube 46 is so placed that the opening therein is approximately aligned with the threaded opening in the float valve 1%). Next, the upper clamping plate 50 is placed over the guide tube 46 and using one of the holes 74, 74a or 74b, the plate is also slid onto the mounting stem 58. This upper clamping plate 7% has three small holes, and ordinarily only the center hole 74 will be used. However, the holes 74a and 74b are progressively radially closer to the center of the hole 72 in order to accommodate the unit to various conventional valve guide yokes in existing water closets. In some of these existing water closets, the guide yoke is so worn that it is out of alignment, or else the guide yoke is of such nature, e.g. it is formed with a horizontal cylindrical shaft which is clamped by a set screw, and thus subject to rotation and misalignment; that it can readily be placed out of alignment and prevent the new flush guide tube of the invention from being rigidly mounted. If the use of any of the holes 74, 74a or 74b causes the lift disc 44 to ride too close to the wall of the water closet, then one of the other of these holes should be used to mount the unit upon the mounting stud 58, to straighten the unit and provide sufficient clearance between the disc 44 and the wall of the water closet. After the upper clamping plate 70 is slid onto both the guide tube 46 and mounting stem 58, the two plates 50 and 70 are held together. They are loosely clamped onto the existing guide yoke 1 until the opening in the guide tube 46 is visually aligned with the opening in the flush ball 10. At this time a wing nut 76 or other fastening means can be threaded onto the mounting stud 58 to tightly clamp the unit into position. As indicated in Figure 9, the use of the ridges or splines 69 is particularly advantageous, especially in those instances where the lower end of the opening 26 in the yoke 1 is badly worn. In such an event, the splines 69 serve as teeth which bite into and aid in rigidly clamping the yoke 1 upon the tapered portion 67 of the flange 64 of mounting stud 58. Once the new stern guide mechanism is accurately centered upon the threaded opening in the float 10 and tightly clamped upon the existing yoke 1, then the valve stem 42 can be placed through the opening in the guide tube 46 and threaded into the ball valve 10. Thereafter, the disc 44 can be mounted upon the upper portion of the valve stem 42 and tightly retained thereon by the fasteners 45. A simple manipulation of the operating lever 17 will indicate whether the valve stem 42 is properly located and whether the ball valve 10 seats properly upon the valve seat 4, and any necessary readjustments can be made to accomplish the alignment.

In order to prevent the operating lever 17 from riding above the disc 44, i.e. slipping around the edge of the disc 44 and riding on top of it, the edge of the disc 44 is formed with a lip 43, which will prevent this from happening. Thus, when the lever 17 is raised upwardly as viewed in Figure 3, the lift button 80 will ride only to the outer edge of the disc 44 and bear against the lip 43, and thus will not ride past the disc 44 and rest on the top thereof after operation of the operating lever 17. Also, in order to accommodate the unit to various depths of water closets the lower end of the stem 42 can be threaded as at 100, into a grommet 1%2 embedded into float 10, and the float it can be positioned anywhere along this portion 100. As clearly shown in Figure 3 the rubber float grasps the stem portion and seals the chamber 104. If necessary the opening in the ball valve can be drilled and tapped through and the portion 100 of the stem 42 may be passed entirely through the ball valve.

From the foregoing description it is believed to be obvious that the flush tank valve operating mechanism of the invention is particularly well adapted to be mounted on existing water closets by a simple assembly operation that anyone can perform, so that a new guide tube for the valve stem is provided which will not be Subject to the fouling operations encountered with conventional units. Also, it is believed to be obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the detailed construction of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as set forth in the following claims. For example, the assembly may be simply modified to clamp directly onto an overflow pipe such as 2.

What I claim is:

1. A flush valve guide assembly for use with a flush tank including a valve seat, and an overflow pipe extending upwardly from and laterally offset relatively to the valve seat, comprising in combination: a guide yoke having a guide opening therein and adapted to be secured to and supported by the overflow pipe, a valve stem guide tube, a mounting means including an upper and a lower clamping plate for enclasping said guide yoke therebetween, said tube being affixed to one of said plates and being held by the other said plate, and means for drawing said plates together and retaining them in fixed position with respect to the yoke to form a fixed parallelogram linkage.

2. The flush valve guide assembly of claim 1 including in combination, a valve stem adapted to slide within said guide tube and further adapted to be connected at its lower end to a float valve, and a lift disc mounted at the upper end of said stem and being formed with a downwardly projecting circumferential protuberance, said disc being engageable directly by the operating lever of a flush tank.

3. The flush valve guide assembly of claim 1 wherein said mounting means includes a mounting stud afiixed to one of said plates and passing through the guide opening in said yoke and also passing through an opening in said other plate.

4. The flush valve guide assembly of claim 3 wherein said mounting stud is provided with means for centering and aligning it within the guide opening in said yoke, said aligning means co-operating with said means for drawing said plates together to positively retain said stud in aligned position and to maintain said guide tube in vertical alignment with the axis of said valve seat.

5. The assembly of claim 4 wherein said aligning means consists of a tapered flanged portion formed upon said stud.

'6. The assembly of claim 5 wherein said flanged portion is of rib-like configuration whereby teeth-like projections are presented towards said yoke for biting thereinto when said mounting means is clamped into position.

7. A flush valve guide assembly for use with a flush tank including a valve seat, an overflow pipe extending upwardly from and laterally offset relatively to the valve seat, and a guide yoke secured to and supported by the overflow pipe, said assembly comprising a valve stem guide tube, a mounting means for clamping said tube onto said yoke in spaced relationship therewith and in alignment with said valve seat, said mounting means comprising an upper and a lower clamping plate for enclasping said guide yoke therebetween and a mounting stud afiixed to the lower clamping plate in perpendicularism thereto, said upper plate having a series of openings therein at varying distances from the axis of said tube whereby the tube may be readily positioned in aligned position and rigidly held therein, said stud passing through the guide opening in said yoke and also passing through one of the openings in the upper plate, said guide tube also being aflixed to said lower plate in substantial perpendicularism thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,203,296 Yost Oct. 31, 1916 1,552,921 Gower Sept. 8, 1925 2,217,320 Romaine Oct. 8, 1940 2,546,766 McWilliams Mar. 27, 1951 2,558,379 Phipard June 26, 1951 

